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Marcinkus, of Vatican scandal, dies

PHOENIX, Arizona — Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, who was the top official at the Vatican's bank before a massive banking scandal ended his tenure there in 1989, has died, a spokeswoman for the local Catholic diocese said Tuesday.

Marcinkus, who was in his 80s, had retired but remained active in the ministry. He was found dead at his home in the Phoenix suburb of Sun City on Monday evening, said Mary Jo West, a spokeswoman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix. West had no further information on his death.

Marcinkus, who was 6 feet, 4 inches, or 1.94 meters, tall had acted as a bodyguard to Pope John Paul II during his early foreign travels.

He also headed the Vatican bank, formally known as the Institute for Religious Works, for 20 years. But in a sweeping restructuring of the scandal- tainted bank in 1989, the Vatican eliminated Marcinkus's post. He remained on in the deputy governor's post before retiring in 1990.

Warrants for the arrest of Marcinkus and two lay Vatican bank officials were issued in 1987 after Italian prosecutors charged them with being accessories to the fraudulent bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano, Italy's largest private bank, which collapsed in 1982 with the disappearance of $1.3 billion.

The arrests were never carried out, and Marcinkus insisted he had done nothing wrong.

Italy's Constitutional Court ruled that a Vatican-Italian treaty precluded any interference by Italian authorities in the affairs of the Vatican, an independent city-state. The missing money was in loans made to 10 dummy companies in Latin America controlled by the Vatican bank.

Richard Bright, 68, veteran of the 'Godfather' movies

Richard Bright, a veteran character actor who appeared in all three "Godfather" films and "The Sopranos," died Saturday in New York after being hit by a bus on a New York street. He was 68 and lived in Manhattan.

A versatile actor with a characteristic rasp in his voice, Bright had a busy career in movies and theater that stretched back to the late 1950s, when he made his film debut in a small part in Robert Wise's "Odds Against Tomorrow." During the 1970s, he appeared in "The Panic in Needle Park" with Al Pacino, Sam Peckinpah's "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid," "Marathon Man" with Dustin Hoffman, "Looking for Goodbar" and "The Getaway."

In the "Godfather" pictures he played Al Neri, one of Michael Corleone's toughs, whose murders came at crucial plot points: in "The Godfather: Part II," he took a fateful ride in a fishing boat with Michael's untrustworthy brother Fredo, played by John Cazale.$@(NYT)

William Cowsill, 58, pop singer

William Cowsill, the lead singer and guitarist of the Cowsills, a sweet-toned 1960s family band that inspired "The Partridge Family" television series, died Saturday at his home in Calgary, Alberta. He was 58.

No cause of death was reported, but a longtime friend and producer, Neil MacGonigill, said Monday that Cowsill had suffered from emphysema, Cushing's syndrome and osteoporosis.

The Cowsills recorded several hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including "The Rain, the Park and Other Things," "We Can Fly," "Indian Lake" and "Hair" from the rock musical. They had a wholesome image along with sunny harmonies.$@(NYT)